Highway will further reduce Brampton's farmland

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Published on Thursday, 27 January 2022 01:31

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Pickering still plugs airport on best farmland

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Published on Wednesday, 28 October 2020 15:34

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On behalf of the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce, we are asking that you take the time to sign the Land Over Landings Petition (LOL) and if you are in the agricultural sector to complete their survey. 

As a reminder are working diligently to protect 9,000 acres of farmland that was designed more than 50 years for an airport in Pickering. 

Right now we have a world full of empty airports and a very real fear of food security and protecting source water.

NDACT Chair

Karren Wallace

SIGN THE NEW PETITION!

A passionate new supporter from Whitby has launched an online petition asking the federal government to end, once and for all, any plans to build an airport on the prime -- and increasingly precious -- farmland of North Pickering.

In case you thought this was settled long ago, and that no one would be crazy enough to suggest a new airport on foodland during a global pandemic that has decimated the aviation industry — wrong! The City of Pickering is actively campaigning for just that. On October 8 they held a symposium for realtors and developers promoting their pet project — an aerotropolis!!

We hope you’ll take a minute to sign and to share this new digital petition: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2907

Proposed Expansion of Long's Quarry, Northeast of Belleville

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Published on Wednesday, 30 October 2019 14:50

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Aggregate News

Location:  Long’s Quarry, 13 Melrose Road, Lot 6 and 7, Conc. 3, Shannonville, Tyendinaga Township, County of Hastings, northeast of Belleville

Proponent:  C.H. Demill Holdings Inc.

If approved, this expansion will allow the quarry to double their annual extraction rate to 1 million tonnes, negatively impacting the ground water of farms and nearly 300 homes who rely entirely on wells.

https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/1583857219894/?jwsource=cl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0YjhGfsrLI&feature=youtu.be

Full details.

In support of this community, we are spreading the news of their plight and informing readers of their fundraising campaign.

Please try to support them.

NDACT calls for action against aggressive aggregate asks

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Published on Monday, 22 April 2019 14:36

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Written By Marni Walsh, Shelburne Free Press, April 18, 2019

A list of aggressive “asks” by the Ontario Sand Stone and Gravel Association has emerged from the March 29 exclusive Provincial Summit on Aggregate Reform held in Caledon. 

The representatives of the aggregate industry met with Progessive Conservative government officials to discuss “removing red tape” for the industry. Despite protests, Stakeholders such as the Federation of Agriculture, Enviromental Protection groups, and citizen coalitions, including the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce (NDACT,) were shut out of discussions. 

Last week, NDACT revealed some of the most concerning of the Aggregate Industry requests:

• Removing the ability of a municipality to set hours of operation for pits and quarries

• Allowing below-the-water table aggregate operations anywhere, including places where they are currently excluded (e.g. oak Ridges Moraine national Linkage and Core areas)

• Allowing commercial fill to be brought in as part of the rehabilitation process – without requiring additional approvals or having to abide by current Table One soil requirements

• No requirement for new studies or approvals once a licence is approved when they apply for or amend an operational permit

• Removing the Niagara Escarpment’s role in approving pits and quarries

• Removing the requirement for appeals under an aggregate permit to be heard at Local Planning Appeal Tribunals (LPAT) and create a special tribunal specifically for the industry

• Proclaim permit by rule allowing routine approvals to be automatic upon submission

• Permit aggregate extraction within endangered and threatened species habitats

• Expropriation of municipal road allowances to permit access to aggregate.

After years of fighting to protect the Headwaters against a massive open pit mine in Melancthon, and working to institute protective measures in the Aggregate Resources Act and the Provincial Policy Statement, battle weary residents are voicing disappointment, but not defeat.

“Between the bickering heralding the October federal election and playing whack-a-mole with the Ontario government’s social and environmental “reforms”, it is hard to stay positive,” says Food and Water First Executive Director Donna Baylis. “However, this is not the time to lose heart.  We need to be as determined as ever, persevering to hold our ground.  We are the guardians of the legislation untold numbers of people have enacted for us and our children, to make our society better.  We can’t allow one moment of exuberance to be self-destructive.”

NDACT Chair, Karren Wallace warns, “Governments don’t take a lot of stock in form letters and on-line petitions, so please send your individual comments by May 1, 2019 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . If the only comment you submit is the importance of the agriculture sector to the Ontario economy, so be it.  This government seems to understand money.”

“In 2011, 28,000 people showed up to Foodstock,” says Wallace. “The following year 40,000 people showed up to Soupstock – all in the name of shutting down the mega quarry.  What is being proposed here for the aggregate industry would seem to make another proposal for a mega quarry a walk in the park.”

     “We need our 68,000 voices to ring out again and show this government, and future governments, our rare and valuable Class 1 farmland is not for sale,” stresses the NDACT Chair. “ Agriculture is already open for business. In fact, in 2017, Ontario’s family farm and food processing businesses contributed $39 billion to Ontario’s economy and employed over 820,000 Ontarians.  Agriculture and agri-food processors are the number one economic contributor to Ontario’s overall economy. (Source: Ontario Federation of Agriculture).”

     “Stay strong,” says Donna Baylis. “Know that your opinion counts.  Let the government hear your voice protecting our future, even if it is just one paragraph.  It may seem a drop in the ocean “yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?” Visit: foodandwaterfirst.com/events/call-to-action-to-may-1st/

‘Ford government open for business, closed to public’ says NDACT chair

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Published on Friday, 05 April 2019 14:05

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By Marni Walsh
April 4, 2019
Shelburne Free Press

Representatives from at least seven different citizen organizations gathered outside the Hampton Inn in Bolton on March 29th to protest the exclusive nature of the Provincial Government’s Summit on Aggregate Reform. Represented at the protest were the Caledon Village Association; Concerned Citizens of Ramara; Concerned Residents’ Coalition (CRC) Rockwood; Food and Water First; Gravel Watch; Palgrave Residents Association; and Caledon’s Pitsense.

Recent public requests to Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones for more inclusion at the summit were met with a form letter which included a statement from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. The statement read: “Please be aware that the Summit is targeted at industry, municipal and Indigenous leaders to hear how the government can cut red tape to create jobs and support a sustainable aggregates industry. Space at the Summit is limited, to allow participants to provide effective input. We invite everyone to provide comment by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or filling out our survey on Ontario’s aggregate reform webpage. We will review all feedback before making any decisions on how we can open up the aggregate industry to jobs.”

However, Food and Water First Executive Director Donna Baylis, who attended the Summit protest, says it was originally “billed to include industry partners, municipal and Indigenous leaders, but the event was revised to gather feedback from major industry stakeholders only.”

NDACT Chair Karren Wallace told the Free Press, “It is disappointing that key stakeholders were not invited to the summit – only the aggregate industry” She says, “The entire summit was shrouded in secrecy.” While Premier Ford’s favourite sound bite continues to be “Ontario is open for business,” KarrenWallace says, “The Ford government is Open for Business…closed to the public.”

In a recent release, the Ontario Headwaters Institute (OHI) , a non-profit organization working to protect Ontario’s headwaters, natural heritage, and watersheds, wrote they had hoped to attended, “given the opportunity of the summit and our perception that we could have added value to the future of the aggregate industry as well as for the environment and local communities.” The OHI released various problems their organization encountered when seeking access to information on the Aggregate Summit, including un-attended autoresponders; lack of information; lack of phone numbers; and unreturned calls and emails. The OHI say they urge the provincial government “to do better and honour its campaign pledges for increased transparency and accountability, and to provide a government ‘for the people’.”

Ms. Baylis says MPP Sylvia Jones “was inside according to Twitter, but she did not visit the activists” from her riding or otherwise. “Neither did Caledon’s Mayor nor any of the Ministers,” says Baylis. She told the Free Press that a journalist who went in to interview Summit participants, “came out assuring us that they were aware of our presence, so activists were in good spirits.” She also added, “One representative from Dufferin Aggregates stopped to say that industry reps had asked the provincial government to consult with concerned residents and environmental groups.” Under Baylis’ direction, Food and Water First continues to demand changes to the Aggregate Resources Act and the Provincial Policy Statement to ensure Prime Farmland and Source Water regions are protected in Ontario. Food and Water First is a legacy movement that emerged from NDACT’s battle with the Mega Quarry.

“The Government of Ontario plans to reform Ontario’s aggregate industry by cutting red tape, creating jobs and building a sustainable aggregates industry,” says Donna Baylis.

“The aggregates industry contributes almost $1.4 billion to Ontario’s economy and supports almost 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. However, Ontario’s family farm and food processing businesses contribute $39 billion to Ontario’s economy and employ over 820,000 Ontarians. Agriculture and agri-food processors are the number one economic contributor to Ontario’s overall economy. (Source: Ontario Federation of Agriculture) So, what is more sustainable – the one-time extraction of sand, stone and gravel? Or the harvesting of food in perpetuity?”

At its current rate of depletion, Donna Baylis says Ontario will lose two million acres of farmland by the year 2050. “Yet the world’s population is expected to increase by another 1.5 billion people by that time,” she says. “Without farmland, Ontario farmers will not be able to feed Ontario’s population. Without farmland, Ontario cannot have food security. Ontarians must decide … stay the course and watch food land disappear? Or value and protect our food land today for tomorrow?”

NDACT’s Chair, Karren Wallace puts out a call for the public to take action, urging anyone who is concerned about protecting Ontario’s farmland and source water from aggregate extraction and other industrial development, to put their concerns in writing to the Ministry by the May 1st deadline – at Aggregate Reform Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in a PDF via e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.